A Blessed Christmas from our home to yours....

"From the beginning the Father had a magnificent plan revealed through the law and the prophets, to fulfill the redemption of man. He spoke after centuries of silence in the midst of a still, starry night, when Emmanuel came down among us, and the Father said "Let there be light!!"

People who walked in great darkness, gathered from near and afar, shepherds with flocks in their keeping, three kings who followed a star. Together the poor and the richest, witnessed that Bethlehem night, and the sky full of angels announcing the birth of a glorious light!

We who are his have this calling, to praise him, and make his name known, so one day the promise of Jesus, shines in every heart and every home!"
~Point of Grace~

May God bless you and keep you this Christmas and throughout the new year!!

Straight No Chaser

I had heard of these guys, but never really listened to any of their songs. WCSG played their version of "The 12 days of Christmas" this morning, and I found that along with "The Christmas Can Can" and "Who Spiked the Eggnog" on youtube this morning. I thought I'd share them with you all.

25 Week Ultrasound

Back at the end of October I had my 20 week ultrasound. Baby was what they call "spine up" the entire time so, while the ultrasound tech got good measurements of the legs and arms and such, she couldn't get the pictures she wanted of the heart and of the face because the baby had its face buried the whole time. She informed us that everything looked great, but that she would need to do another ultrasound in about a month....oh bummer... :) to try and get the heart and face pictures she needed. Today was the day that I was scheduled to have the second ultrasound. The baby was in a "spine down" position today, so they were able to get great pictures of the heart and face and also a profile picture which they weren't able to get last time either. Baby started in what they called a "clam" position with it's feet up by it's head...we have quite a flexible one in there!

Baby in "clam" position

My office was in the process of testing some new ultrasound machines, and to my delight, the new machines were equipped with 3 and 4D capabilities!! I've been waiting for them to get this and I was soo excited when they got some pretty good 3D pictures of our precious little one! The following one is NOT the best one, I'm saving that for our christmas card, so you all will have to wait until then to see it! :) If you look at it right, you can see the baby has it's hand up by it's face...so cute!!

The technicians said many times that everything looked wonderful. Baby's heart rate was strong at 167 and it was moving all over the place. We are so incredibly thankful that, up to this point, things have been uneventful and mom and baby are both healthy. The Lord has blessed us once again in this pregnancy, and we are so humbled that he has given us this little one to enjoy.

Third grade state float and parade

On Friday, November 30 Bradyn, along with all of his classmates participated in the annual 3rd grade state parade. Each child in his class and the other two third grade classes got to pick a state to research and create a float on. Bradyn chose North Carolina. He was so excited that he got North Carolina, because we were able to visit there back in 2011. Over the last month or so, we spent some time researching North Carolina, and Bradyn wrote a letter to the secretary of state of NC to ask if she could send him anything to put on his state float. He was tickled when, a few weeks later, a large manila envelope arrived in the mailbox with his name on it!!

While I was gone on the Lotterman sisters shopping trip, Bradyn and daddy worked on the float, and that following week we put the finishing touches on it. We brought it to school on Thursday afternoon, and then headed back to school on Friday morning for the actual parade.

I didn't realize that it was such a big deal until I arrived at school and had to park at the end of the driveway because there were so many spectators there to watch!! I walked into school, and found the hallways PACKED with students by their lockers waving little flags, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and friends of all the students in the third grade.

Calvin and I found an open spot and waited for the parade to begin. It turned out to be pretty neat with "patriotic" music playing over the intercom system and everything! The three third grade teachers each dressed up as a special person from a state. There was Benjamin Franklin, Ronald Reagan and Lady Liberty. After the parade wound through the school hallways two times, the students and their floats made their way to the gym, where parents could get pictures of their child and see the floats a little better. All in all I think Bradyn had fun, although I could tell he was quite nervous, and didn't really enjoy having to be in front of so many people.

Bradyn and his float. (you can see how nervous he is)

Bradyn's teacher, Miss Koole, dressed up as Lady Liberty.

Bradyn feeling a little more relaxed the second time around.

Bradyn and Calvin posing by the float in the gym.